Renowned Canadian Attraction Set to Reopen Soon Near Halton

While there’s no shortage of things to do in Halton this summer, there are some attractions you just have to visit outside the city.

One of those is this incredibly Instagrammable Caledon gem.

Almost two years after the Ontario Heritage Trust had to close the Cheltenham Badlands in Caledon, it’s finally reopening to the public this summer!

According to the Trust, the Cheltenham Badlands are scheduled to reopen in late summer 2018, weather pending.

The Badlands have been closed since summer 2015 to protect the rare natural landscape due to an influx of visitors, and come summer 2018, the geographical gem will once again be open to the public.

According to the Trust, construction of a new parking lot and new boardwalk are complete, and trail improvements and maintenance works are underway until early summer.

The Trust anticipates the attraction will reopen when trail work is complete.

Right now, the Trust, in partnership with the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo, is indeed monitoring the geological and ecological change over time.

“Over the years, [the Badlands’s] distinctive landscape has been attracting increasing numbers of visitors, resulting in accelerated erosion of the sensitive red shale surface and permanently changing its unique appearance,” reads the Trust’s website.

There is a long-term plan in place to improve public safety and ensure long-term protection of the Badlands that will be implemented over “the next several years,” says the Trust.

The Trust is also looking into more options for public enjoment and understanding when it comes to the site with a Master Plan.

“The Master Plan will outline the long-term vision for the site as well as identify major projects, new trails and other potential site enhancements to be implemented in phases,” the Trust told QuickBite News Network.

The Badlands have an extremely fascinating history - the site was formed at the base of an ancient sea over 400 million years ago. It was first exposed in the early 1900s.

The exposed bedrock is known as iron-rich shale called Queenston Shale. When it was exposed in the 1900s, vegetation was removed during landscaping and livestock grazing, and now, the shale has eroded into a “series of hummocks and gullies, producing the distinctive landscape,” according to the Trust.

Today, the Badlands are renowned as a provincially significant Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest.